Meeting the Rest of His Family

Born on Tuesday and baptized on Sunday.

Despite a frantic first-bath (which Moses HATED.  I wonder if it had to do with the frantic scrubbing of a Mama simultaneously barking out orders to all corners of the house... nah.  Probably not.) on a harried first-time-getting-everyone-out-the-door rush to get to church, it was a pretty great day. 

Moses even had a gaggle of silly geese waiting on the doorstep of our church for a first view.  (I love the people in our church!)

Not the last "Doh!" face we'll ever get with him, I bet.

Better than the lilies~ A note on the clothes.  Three days before Moses arrived, still great with child, I waddled to a nearby antique barns/flea market where I have, in the past, scored some awesome vintage clothing for pennies.  I was on the lookout for a baptismal outfit for Cricket since I have one for each of the children to take with them for their own children someday(all bought at yard sales, mind you.)  I didn't find one but I *DID* find the gorgeous dress that Ineke is wearing for a measly $5.00!

It comes with a petticoat, people!

Even better, on the way home, there was a yard sale that had....wait for it.........a perfectly wonderful baptismal outfit for a boy for another $5.00!

Little ways that reveal the Lord knows and cares even about the small details of our hearts.  Even the unspoken ones.  Even the superfluous ones that don't matter like set-apart clothes worn on a set-apart day.

And one more note:

I should be either proud or worried of the obvious delight this girl shows, even in the midst of screaming baby.  I can't decide which...

At the Hospital

The hospital stay at Moses' birth was not a stellar experience- mainly because of crossed wires when it came to discharge that resulted in my entire family being trapped in a small hospital room for about 6 hours straight with frazzled nerves and antsy pants all around (or maybe just me?!).  I felt like a caged bird and wanted nothing more than to gettheheckouttatherewithmypeeps and eat some real food.

But stay, we had to.  The up-side to it was lots of visitors.  And a bouquet of flowers from my Mister! 

I'd like to erase those last six hours from my memory entirely, but before that there were a few things I'd like not to forget.

#1. Moses is the first child of mine that has been wide-eyed and curious from the get-go.  Moments after birth he opened his eyes and didn't shut them for an impossibly long time.  Hours, maybe?  Maybe I was in a fog- but it really did seem like hours.  And he would follow people around with his eyes.  

This was new for us.  Most of my children have only opened their eyes cracks when you shielded them from light and then, only for a moment before falling asleep again.

#2  How did I forget how amazingly soft and squidgy and warm and silky and PERFECT freshly born baby skin is?  One of the best feelings IN.THE.WORLD.  I have often thought of bottling up sunshine for winter...but if I could bottle anything at all, it would be the feeling of fresh baby perfection. 

#3.  Hospital rooms are in desperate need of flowers.  So are postpartum women.

#4 When Ineke saw the baby for the first time, she covered her mouth, crinkled her nose and eyes and kept exclaiming "He's sooooo CUTE!  He's sooooo cuuuuuuuuutteeeee!"  Some things, photos just don't capture well.  I wish I had a video of it.

#5  I have always noticed when a new baby comes that the displaced 'baby' of the family all of a sudden seems not like a baby at all.  I never knew that something similar happens to bigger brothers.  Overnight, he turned from big boy to almost manly?!?! SERIOUSLY.  NOT okay.

Always observant, Moses follows everyone around with his eyes.

#6  I think it is so ironic (and hilarious) how exhausted Matt looks after I push a baby out.  Looking back in pictures, I am always so bright eyed and bushy tailed after having a baby and he is always catching some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's. 

#7... Moses- you are clearly not impressed about it now, but I am telling you- it is pretty awesome to have grandparents that sit on each others' laps.  You'll understand someday.

#8 Matt and Moses have an uncannily squished scowl...

...and happen to be some of the handsomest guys I know.

The girl in the back ain't so bad, either.

#9 SOMEONE wasn't super impressed that not ONLY did I get a bonnet crocheted for a coming home outfit- but matching booties and a sweater to boot!  Some people are SO hard to please.

#10 I hate red tape and hospital silliness like being pushed to your car in a wheelchair with a cumbersome baby seat perched on your lap.  The whole thing is stupid if you ask me and makes a girl feel pretty stupid too.  I hate this picture for that reason and others. (Ahem- man calves. double chin.)   But I love it because of the girl holding my hand.  Ineke started bawling when she saw me get in the wheelchair because she thought that I was sick and that I was going somewhere else, away from her.  Only after she got to hold my hand to be sure I didn't get away was she willing to stop crying.  She held it the whole way to the van.  Andrew, meanwhile, ran ahead and took about 30 unflattering photos of me in said stupid wheelchair. 

#11 When nurses who push wheelchairs see vans this large- they actually laugh in disbelief.  I didn't tell her that me finally being a part of the BIG VAN club makes me very, very happy.  That probably would have made her laugh even more.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Some lucky (smart?!) people got to meet Moses on a gorgeous day in the comfort of our own front porch instead of a hospital room. 

I let them hold Moses in exchange for a big pan of ravioli that (blame it on postpartum hormones or just how good it was) I actually cried over...  Who got the better end of the bargain, I wonder?